Gundam Build Fighters: The Hidden Power of Gunpla
by Kira Zero Yamato
Summary: A wealthy, but eccentric young man is sent to Japan to live with his extended family, when his parents suddenly decide to retire. With the help of his extended family will this young man finally stop secluding him self and find his passion? When it comes to a new adventure in Japan and the world of Gunpla Battling... Probably!


Gundam Build Fighters: The Hidden Power of Gunpla.

By, KiraZeroYamato.

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Gunpla, Gundam Build Fighters, or any related series. Those belong to Sunrise, Bandai, Level 5 and other applicable rights holders. This is a work of fiction provided free to all to read, therefore not for sale, rent, or any other monetary gain, and is purely for entertainment purposes. All of my original characters are my own, even if they take some inspiration from other characters from other fictions. The plot is purely fictional and of my own creation.

Rating: T for some coarse language, reference to adult situations, violence between toys, and controversial topics.

Author's Note & Warning: This story contains gender bending/cross dressing, and may later contain same sex relationships. It's sort of my thing, after all. If you have serious objections to that, for any reason, you may want to avoid this. So don't say you weren't given fair warning. That being said constructive criticism, comments, reviews(even brutally honest ones), and other constructive feedback is most definitely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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><p>Chapter One: Family Roller Coaster.<p>

Japan isn't exactly the sort of place I'd expected to find my self, rather despite my deep family roots in the nation. Still there I sat in taxi as it made it's way from Narita Airport into Tokyo proper, pondering my parents. My parents them selves are both fantastic people, very wealthy, but not mega-rich by any stretch of the imagination. Still my trust was basically worth enough I could retire straight out of grade school.

Although that hadn't been my route, I'd graduated high school with a few honors, and spent the next three years doing basically nothing. Not that I have anything against going to college, it's just that I didn't find myself motivated to attend one. Since childhood I'd been an avid Gundam fan, so a lot of people assume I'm into Gunpla Battle, but I never managed to get into it. I build the models, but for various reasons never got to battle with them, so mostly I made dioramas and vanilla builds.

Aside from my otaku streak, I have a strong respect for Japan and the culture that resides proudly here. I've been here a number of times to visit family and on vacation, it's always been a blast, now I get to live here. You see my parents have decided to retire early, which meant that they decided to go on a long sailing trip around the world. So I wouldn't be lonely my father sent me to live with his brother, my doting uncle. I was still confused by the sudden retirement my parents opted for, as it seemed like they were both at the peak of their careers.

I'm getting ahead of my self though, my name is Ashikaga, Natsume. I'm a bit of a misfit in a family of boisterous misfits, not because I'm normal, but because I'm eccentric in ways different from my relatives. All of us are eccentric in one way or another, but in a family of proud misfits, I'm proud to say I set the bar pretty high. I'm more introverted than most of my family, and just plain weird down to the genetic level. You see I have what's called XX male syndrome, as a male I have two X chromosomes, instead of one X and one Y. The reason I was born male was due to a fusion of the X and Y chromosomes from my father, resulting in being genetically female and physically male... Mostly.

I have all of the male plumbing, but I'm only average height if you compare me to females, being only about 160 centimeters tall, or about five foot two inches. I also sported some more classical symptoms of the syndrome, including gynecomastia, feminine facial features, and physique, all of which I hide well enough. But I do show my feminine side in my own ways. My hair's bangs were down to my eyes, the rest of the hair style extending down past my rear, naturally auburn red, I dyed it dark purple. I also retain my mother's deep violet eye color, though sometimes it shifts to a dark blue, also like her Celtic ancestors, my skin is very fair and sensitive.

Anyways, this is the story of my adventure in Japan, and dive in to Gunpla Battle.

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><p>The taxi entered the bustling metropolis of Tokyo, Japan. A city, that like every other city in Japan to me, never failed to take my breath away. Bright colors, buildings packed with businesses, sprawling residential areas, serious business areas, all of it was wonderful to me. I watched the city crawl by as we got caught in traffic, but soon the traffic thinned as we passed into a residential section. One I knew quite well actually, because this was the area my extended family lived in.<p>

The taxi rode down a fairly narrow quiet street packed with western-style houses I was familiar with, stopping in front of a very familiar house. My uncle's house was pretty standard, well except for it's rather exceptional size for Japan, but all the houses in this neighborhood were large.

After paying the cab driver, exiting the cab, and retrieving the baggage that contained what I hadn't shipped, I stood at the gate to the house. Much to my surprise my Aunt came barreling out the door to meet me and locked me in a rub crushing hug. "Natsume-chan!" She bellowed almost crying. "It's been so long since we last saw you!"

"It's good to see you too Kimiko-obasan." I wheezed out. "But I can't breathe..."

She let go of me blushing, but giggled at me. "Sorry... I couldn't help my self."

Before I could even shake my head at her someone else latched onto me, this time lifting me off my feet off the ground, with the hug from behind. "My favorite niece!" A male voice boomed.

"Daisuke-ojisan!" I whined loudly, blushing, but thankful for not being crushed this time. "You know full well I'm a male!"

He set me down, laughing heartily and mussed my hair as if I were still a small child. "I know, but it's always so fun to tease you!"

I sighed heavily still blushing. "Jeez you never change Daisuke-ojisan!"

My uncle is a giant of a man, heavily built much unlike my father. His brown eyes shine with a deep cheerfulness, along with the sparkle of his mischievous spirit. Like always his hair is a mess of black spikes. My aunt is only about two inches taller than me, with a modest bust. Like always her medium long black hair is in a French braid, and her warm green eyes sparkling with her naturally caring spirit. I smiled at them genuinely.

"Yo." A younger voice called out to me and I looked passed my aunt and uncle to see my two younger cousins. Hideki the speaker, with the same caring green eyes as his mother, along with slicked back short brown hair. Standing next to him was his younger sister Michiko who had fierce gray eyes, and her shoulder length brown hair was done in Odango style.

I smiled at them both and hugged them tight, at the same time managing to slip each of them a handful of cash. I looked them up and down. I could already tell that Michiko, who was just entering her teens, was going to be taller than sometime soon, while her brother who was a second year in high-school towered over me. They both sported their respective school uniforms. "It's nice to see you guys, but I don't want to make either of you late for school."

"Gah you're right!" Hideki suddenly gasped and ran off shouting over his shoulder. "I'm off! See you later Natsume-chan!"

Michiko was more reserved and bowed slightly to me, very unusual for her. "Excuse me, I'm off too. See you later cousin." She took off at a more reserved pace in the opposite direction of her brother.

"Ah good now my wife has two people to pester the children to get to school on time." My uncle said with a relived sigh. "I just can't bring my self to do it." I glanced at him rolling my eyes.

I turned my attention to my aunt and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for having me." I said politely, then cocked my head at her. "How much is my rent going to be?"

She gave me a bemused look then laughed. "You're our guest, a family guest, you're not going to pay rent."

"Well I'm not going to freeload." I stated simply.

"Oh yes you are!" She shot back firmly.

My uncle put his arm over my shoulder. "Don't argue with your auntie. You'll lose, then she'll put you over her knee and spank you."

I looked up at my uncle with a quirked eyebrow, then back at my aunt who gave me a wicked grin. "I will too." She stated confidently.

I sighed again and gave a surrendering smile. "Fine, if you insist." I glanced around. "Say where's Ichiro?"

My uncle snorted stifling a laugh. "Still in bed, probably."

"He still out of work?" I asked with worried interest.

My aunt shook her head. "No, but he's only a part-timer right now and only works evenings Tuesday through Friday. His new boss is a real bitch too." The last bit she said with the bite of seething animosity.

I shook my head. "Oh well beggers can't be choosers, is he at least close to getting into college?"

"Well he did do better this year on the entrance exams, still failed though." My uncle said with a bit of a chuckle.

"He needs to work harder on his studies if he ever wants to amount to anything." I said seriously.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black Natsume-chan!" Well speak of the devil. Ichiro was built more like his mother than his father, slender and well proportioned. His black hair was shoulder length with no particular style to it, and his brown eyes held the same mischief as his father's. He was still; however, a good 5 inches taller than me. Almost annoyingly he'd been born two days before me, making him technically my elder.

I shook my head at the young man, who'd obviously only just gotten out of bed. "There's a difference between being learned enough and not going, instead of study-lazy and determined to go."

He pouted at me. "So mean Natsume-chan."

"Only when you ask for it." I replied sticking my tongue out childishly at him.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" My aunt asked me in a concerned tone only a mother could give. When I shook my head she clasped her hands together. "Well then you must be starving, come along." She ushered toward the house while my older cousin and uncle grabbed my luggage.

Breakfast was a subdued affair as my uncle hurriedly had to excuse him self to go to work. My cousin and me ate breakfast together quietly under the broad motherly grin of my aunt. Breakfast was itself was simple, consisting of tamagoyaki with natto and oddly enough bacon on the side. The last part was probably due to my aunt's knowledge of my rather deep fondness of bacon.

After breakfast Ichiro showed me to my room, he began to help me with my unpacking which started with my bedding. I brought my own bedding, already washed and in a space bag, because I didn't want to have to try to find similar and expensive such items over seas. If I could even find them, that is. Next came my books, mostly science fiction novels, a sizable portion belonging to Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. But my Cousin's jaw dropped when he pulled the first metal case out of a box full of them and opened it.

In side the case was lined with memory foam that cradled a dozen 1/144 scale High Grade Gundam models from Gundam 00. All told it held Exia Seven Swords, Dynames with full GN shield, Kyrios fully decked out, Virtue, Cherudim GNHW/R, Arios GNHW/M, Seravee GNHW/B, the Seven Swords 00 Raiser, the Three Gundam Thrones, and a GN-X IV.

"Holy crap Natsume these are perfect..." My cousin complimented.

I blushed and rubbed the back of my neck. "I do my best."

Ichiro looked at me for a moment and suddenly grinned. "Do you play Gunpla Battle?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I haven't really had the chance. Both Reno and Seattle are loaded with Battle Fields, but there's always long lines and I never had the time, or patience to wait for a spot." I frowned deeply. "Which is why I've only ever built standard kits, instead of customizing, or making unique units."

My cousin wagged his finger at me emphatically making a tch-tch sound. "Well there are always open Battle Fields around here, so apparently I'm going to have to teach you."

I shook my head blushing and waving my hands in front of myself in a disarming fashion. "I really couldn't impose upon you for that..."

"It's not imposing at all, I'd enjoy nothing more than showing you the ropes." He grinned broadly at me. "I'll be right back!" Before I could protest he was on his feet and took off out of the room, I then heard him say something down stairs, followed by the sound of the front door shutting.

"I wonder what he's up to..." I said to no one in particular.

I was partially thankful to have the next two hours to myself, it allowed me to unpack my belongings at my own pace. The other upside is that also left no prying eyes to investigate my belongings and make snide comments. I had my Gunpla models displayed on every available shelf, including the shelf topping my new desk, high above my laptop. All my modeling tools were stored inside the desk with the exception of my portable air compressor, with compressed air tank, which was stowed in the closet.

It was just about the time I booted up my computer when my cousin returned. He walked in the open door of the room I was given, with his hands behind his back, but raised an eyebrow at my laptop. "Is that an Alien Ware?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yep my newest 18X Notebook, it's really powerful. Mostly for video games, but I run Lubuntu side by side with Windows for more practical functions."

"And it glows purple..." Ichiro commented with a smirk.

"Yes I have the Alien FX set for Plasma Purple on all of the lighting Zones. Really though because I wanted a portable gaming platform I picked this because it's size allows for better air flow. Also I can play in the dark..." I explained trying to change the subject, then studied my cousin and raised an eyebrow. "What do you have behind your back?"

"Oh right!" He chuckled nervously and presented two small, square items, both wrapped in metallic purple wrapping paper and tied with pink satin ribbon. "I got these since I didn't have a chance to get you anything for your last birthday, or last Christmas.. Well think of them as belated gifts."

I was about to reject the gifts out of hand, but his puppy-dog-eyes look made me accept them. I started with the larger of the two. Unwrapping it careful not to tear the paper and to be gentle with the ribbon. It contained a half dozen metal cases in purple for Gunpla and accessories, they also had belt clips on them. I set them aside and carefully repeated the process on the smaller gift. Behind the wrapping was a brand new MK IV GP Base, it was sleekly styled and finished in metallic purple.

I smiled at my cousin. "Thank you very much, but really shouldn't have."

He rolled his eyes at me and tossed his head. "I might not be loaded like you, but it's my pleasure to help your start in the world of Gunpla Battle."

I blushed and thanked him again, then went about setting up my GP Base. While I worked, my cousin wandered around my room examining my possessions. He studied each of my Gunpla, occasionally making a comment, or letting out a whistle. He then went to my reading material, starting with my manga and making comments about how my tastes lean towards shojo, but seem to fluctuate wildly.

I glanced at him as he stopped when he reached my books, he tried choking out the English title and failed miserably. So I glared at him and he showed me the book which he had just butchered the title of. "What's this?"

I looked at the cover of the book, which sported an semi-east Asian looking woman in a black uniform, with a white cap, and a strange cat like creature on her shoulder. Behind her was what was apparently a space station with several ships milling about it. "David Weber, "On Basilisk Station," that's volume one in the Honor Harrington series."

"What's it about?" Ichiro asked curiously sitting on my bed.

I blinked at him. "Apparently I'll have to get you the Japanese version, because you'll be addicted. That being said, you get no spoilers."

He looked at the book again and then frowned at me. "Is that a cat on her shoulder?"

I shook my head and smiled at him. "That's no cat, boy. That's Nimitz, a Sphinxian treecat, they come from the second habitable planet in the Manticore Binary System. They're just as intelligent as humans, empathic telepaths, and have six limbs. Their front limbs have true hands like most primates, their mid-limbs have hand paws like raccoons, while their hind most limbs have true paws, and all they all sport centimeter long stone hard, razor sharp claws. They also have long prehensile tails, and stone hard fangs." I smirked at the growing look of awe on his face. "Because they're telepathic and empathic they can read the intent of two legged people, and if threatened can take several down at blinding speed. They also taste the "mind glow" of people and some actually bond on a telepathic level with certain people... Like how Nimitz is bonded with Honor."*

"Damn that's cool." Ichiro said smiling. He shook his head and carefully replaced the book in it's spot on the shelf. "But ultimately beside the point! Today I'm going to start teaching you to Gunpla Battle!"

I gave him an unconvinced look, but he just grinned back sitting there on my bed. "What do you mean today you're going to start teaching me Gunpla Battle?" I asked with a beleaguered look.

He shrugged still smiling. "It generally takes a couple of days worth of practice before you really learn how to do it properly. Although from the way you usually pick up video games you might get the hang of the basics pretty quick..." He shrugged at me again. "But learning it is part of the fun."

I took the shorter of the two pink satin ribbons and carefully wrapped it around the longer part of my hair, in an offside pony tail that I left draped over my right shoulder. "Well since you went to the trouble of equipping me for the task and I've been meaning to give it a try... I'll do it."

Ichiro's smile morphed in to an wide and excited grin. "Good pick out some of your models, using them will save you a rental fee. Then meet me at the door, and we'll get to it."

I nodded catching some of the contagiousness of my eldest cousin's grin and smiled back. "Alright then, lets be about it."

Ichiro hopped off my bed and sprinted out of my room like an excited child, making me laugh in the process. I finished off the registration process on the my GP Base and stowed it in one of the metal cases, then glanced around my room. I grabbed my Exia and Dynames and slipped each one in to a case, then pondered my collection some more. For the final unit I decided on an RX-178 Gundam MK II, owing to it's lower performance curve, which was still more than adequate for most situations. After I had it secure in the third case, deciding that was enough, I placed them all on my belt and strolled down stairs.

When I got to the front door my cousin was waiting in the entry area(genkan), bouncing on his heels impatiently, almost as if he were about to start jumping up and down. "My god, calm down man I still have a bit of jet lag, you know."

He stopped bouncing and gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm just excited that I get to be the one who introduces to Gunpla Battle." He studied me for a second. "By the way that hair style reminds me of a character from something..."

"That's kinda what I was going for actually." I shook my head gently at him smiling. "Now cool your jets, we have plenty of time." I stepped into the entryway, looked down, and frowned. "Where the heck are my shoes!?"

My aunt peaked out of the kitchen smiling at me. "Right there."

I looked again then glared at her. "They are not."

She walked over still smiling and looked down. "There they are." She said pointing down.

I let my eyes follow the pointing finger, then stared at the shoes indicated in mixture of indignation and embarrassment. "Those are not my shoes..." The shoes in question were a pair of black boots, women's boots, with slightly taller than 6 centimeter heels and pink laces.

My aunt gave me a hurt look. "But I bought them especially for you."

I gave her my best bewildered look. "What did you do that, for that matter where are my sneakers?"

"Well um... They're in the wash, they were really dirty so..." She shrugged, making me fold my arms and huff irritatedly at her, but she smiled again. "Besides you always complain about being too short, those will help... I thought you'd like them..."

I let my shoulders slump as I sighed in defeat. "Why does everyone seem to want me to dress like a girl?"

My cousin was busy trying to stifle his laughs, but managed to respond. "Because you look, move, and sound like one... Besides that you tend to act like one too."

"I do not!" I retorted stomping a socked foot indignantly.

Ichiro burst out laughing. "You do to! That was exactly how a girl would respond!" His laughter was joined by my aunts.

"I hate the both of you." I growled sitting down and placing the heeled ankle high boots on my feet. I zipped up the inner side zippers on the boots, then adjusted the laces to the proper tightness and tied the shoes. I rolled down the legs on my Dickie's double knee pants, stood, and examined my feet. I found my self satisfied with the fact that the pant legs covered the shoes down to past the laces, and covered most of the heel.

"How do they fit?" My aunt asked hopefully.

"Perfectly." I groaned back.

My cousin gave a sympathetic shrug. "Well it's not like you can generally find men's shoes in your size anyways, your feet are just so tiny."

I gave him a dirty look. "You are not helping."

"Well you do complain about it a lot..." My aunt added. "I was looking around for calf high combat-style boots for you too, but I couldn't find any, not in your size, and I looked everywhere. Although I never understood why you wanted boots like that..."

I gave her a helpless shrug. "For their waterproof properties actually...I can't ever find any in my size either..."

"Anyways." Ichiro injected opening the front door. "We're off to get Natsume trained in Gunpla Battle!" He gestured me out the door and I walked out followed by my cousin.

"Have fun!" My aunt called before her son shut the door.

Together I walked with my cousin down the path to the gate and on to the street, at which point he took the lead. "Follow me!"

We walked a couple of blocks before Ichiro glanced over his shoulder at me. "You've done that before..." He observed uninformatively.

"Done what before?" I asked him with an impatient edge to my voice.

"Walked in heels." He stated simply. "You haven't tripped, or wobbled even once, and you're walking with a confident feminine stride... You've actually practiced that haven't you?" He smirked at me with an air of satisfaction that made me want to grind my teeth.

I stopped folding my arms causing my cousin to stop and turn to face me. "You know very well that I have before, certain relatives of mine seem to enjoy humiliating me... So of course I've practiced, I don't want to look like a complete idiot you know." I gave him my best scornful scowl.

He shook his head smiling at me. "I've seen you in a dress too... Really femininity suits you, a lot more than masculinity does. You really should just cross dress full time, it's not like any one would notice..." He turned and continued walking. "I happen to know you like feminine fashion more anyways."

I followed my cousin unsure weather to feel flattered, insulted, or just plain humiliated. "Sometimes Ichiro I want to put a boot in your ass, you're lucky I don't want to risk losing a gift from my dear sweet aunt." He laughed at me causing me to roll my eyes at the back of his head. "Either way you're not convincing me, and I doubt you ever will."

Ichiro laughed again smiling back at me. "Well that's a challenge I might just take you up on, it'd be fun to say the least..." He gave me his best charming smile and I couldn't help but blush and smile back.

We continued to walk for a few more blocks, he lead me down a side alley way finally that lead to an area with a bunch of small business, including a ramen-ya, a small bar, and small boutique clothing shop. But what dominated the alleyway was a huge hobby shop named "Kenta's Bad-Ass Hobby!" I couldn't help but laugh as I reread the sign.

My cousin grinned at me. "Yeah old-man Kenta is really a character."

We walked into passed the sliding glass doors into the huge hobby shop. It wasn't limited to Gunpla, but Gunpla did dominate the store, there were at least a half dozen long isles dedicated to it. On one side of the shop was a wall with windows, and a mostly glass door labeled "Gunpla Battle Room." In the room were a dozen Battle Field Stations, consisting of; a half dozen small single size hexagon units, four made medium size four block stations, and two large seven block stations. Which caused me to whistle in an impressed manner. There were also a pair of massive display cases, one in the main shop and another in the Battle Room, both filled with standard and customized Gunpla models.

"Welcome! Hey Ichiro, how are you holding up?" Greeted a man behind a large counter. The man was slightly on the heavy side, standing about 183 cm tall, with a pleasant face, warm hazel eyes, salt and pepper hair, and a bushy mustache matching his hair. He wore a black apron over a blue polo shirt, and I could see the legs of his gray khaki pants behind the glass display case at the counter.

"Pretty good old man! How's business?" Ichiro responded with a broad grin to match the proprietor's.

The middle aged man chuckled jovialy. "Oh a little slow, but I can't complain." He glanced me. "Say Ichiro, who's this pretty lady you brought with you."

My cousin laughed rubbing the back of my neck. "He happens to be a guy actually, my cousin, Natsume."

The man looked shocked for a second, but recovered, then walked out from behind the counter and offered his hand to me. "I'm Nishida, Kenta and this here is my hobby shop."

I shook his hand and smiled at him. "I'm Ashikaga, Natsume and it's a pleasure to meet you Nishida-san."

He laughed heartily. "You can call me Kenta, no need to get all formal." He studied me for a moment still smiling and shook his head. "It's hard to believe you're a guy, I'll be honest." He shrugged it off. "So what do you think of my humble little shop?"

"Little shop!?" I exclaimed. "This place is pretty big... But it's pretty impressive too Kenta-san. Business must be good for a setup like that." With the last statement I pointed at the battle room.

Kenta blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I get by I guess." He stepped back so he could direct his attention at both of us. "So what can I do for you kids?"

"Kids!?" My cousin scoffed. "I'm twenty two I'll have you know, I'm pretty sure that's adult territory. Natsume is only two days younger than me."

The older man chuckled. "Yeah? Well I'm fifty five and that still makes you kids compared to me, even if you're both old enough to drink and smoke."

This time I laughed and shook my head. "I like older people with that sort of attitude." I looked at the proprietor for a moment absorbing his good nature and bright spirited personality. "Anyways, how much to rent a Battle Field, my cousin is insisting that I learn Gunpla Battle."

"Oh?" Kenta asked with genuine curiosity, still smiling, then gave a nonchalant nod. "For you two, it's on the house, since your cousin is such a loyal customer of mine. Since you're just learning you guys better use one of the big tables." He put his arms around our shoulders and led us into the battle room.

Upon entering I noticed in the battle room was a decent size bar in the corner with an attached snack bar. "Boy this place must be popular."

Kenta laughed. "On the weekends on and most evenings it can get pretty busy, especially here in the Battle Room." He went over to the bar as me and my cousin went over to one of the large Battle Field Stations.

My cousin checked something then smile at me. "Ready?"

"Ready." I confirmed and my cousin switched the table on.

"PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE." The machine stated, and we complied locking our GP Bases into their slots. "BEGINNING PLAVSKY PARTICLE DISPERSAL." The machine stated as it began emitting blue-white particles that formed walls around the system, along with me and my cousin. A city scape began to form and the computer voice spoke again. "FIELD 05: CITY." I watched with some amazement as a realistic city materialized from thin air. It was fairly nondescript looking, clusters of buildings of various size, and lightly forested area at one border, with a river separating the city from the woodlands. "PLEASE SET YOUR GUNPLA." The machine requested.

I watched with serious interest as my cousin set his model. It was a customized Dahgi Iris with improved square shaped thrusters, a removable backpack unit replacing the standard that had Funnels mounted on it, a redesigned larger bore beam rifle, and a silver and red paint job. I felt a little inadequate as I pulled out my own standard Gundam Dynames. We both set our Gunpla on the platform and they were scanned, I smiled as Dynames lifted it's head and it's eyes lit, making the same sound as in Gundam 00.

"Ashikaga, Ichiro, Powered Dahgi Iris, Here I Go!" My cousin shouted as he launched his Gunpla.

I nodded to my self taking the holographic controls as they came up. "Ashikaga, Natsume, Gundam Dynames, Launching!" I grinned as my own unit shot down the launching catapult and out into the battle field. Some how I managed to land easily directly in front of my cousin in a wide abandoned street.

"Lets start with the basics, follow me." He told me as he began to lead me around the city to show me the movement controls.

Moving was fairly simple and with in a few minutes I had familiarized myself with the basics. My cousin seeing this decided to step it up in to thrusting and airborne maneuvers, after a further few minutes of that he was satisfied with my progress and pulled his beam saber, and began teaching me how to block, parry, and evade melee attacks, at the same time I began to counter attack. Soon we shifted into sparing with ranged weapons, not seriously fighting, but practicing the fundamentals.

We'd been at it for about 45 minutes, when my cousin informed me that we were going to start fighting against AI units, ones that would fight back. The next thing I knew a trio of Leo and another of Aries mobile suits were on the field. Two Leos and an Aries separated and came after me, while the remaining three went after my cousin. I didn't pay attention to him as I dodged and weaved through on coming fire, I focused on a Leo and quickly dispatched it with my GN beam pistols. The second rushed with it's beam saber, I had to force Dynames to leap back when the Leo took it's swing, leaving the drone unit exposed. With a series of quick shots I managed to remove it's sword arm, it attempted to draw the second beam saber, but I cut it down with another flurry of GN pistol fire. It was at this time the Aries made a strafing run that forced me to take to the air, the Aries shot past me and I switched to the GN beam sniper rifle. I managed to hit the Aries with a well timed shot as it attempted to turn back towards me and it exploded in mid air.

I then landed on a roof, from that vantage point I could see my cousin locked in saber combat with the last of the Leos. I observed that the other two Aries units were in pieces, scattered over part of the city, disabled but not destroyed. I watched my cousin noticing that the Leo was getting dangerously aggressive, so I took aim with my sniper rifle and punched a shot right through the Leo's upper torso. My cousin launched himself into the air and landed on another building, escaping the blast of the Leo's explosion.

Ichiro's face appeared in a video chat screen in my piloting area. "Dang you're progressing a lot faster than I thought you would." He grinned at me.

"Well the controls are pretty natural and easy to use." I smiled back. "Besides I have a good teacher."

He chuckled at me. "Well since you're so confident, I'll crank up the AI on the next wave."

Moments later a squadron of six standard MS-06FZ Zaku II Kais barged on to the field from opposite directions. My cousin shot off to intercept one trio and I turned to face the second. I took aim with my GN snipe rifle and took out two of the units with three shots, one had skillfully dodged after I took out it's partner, but I scored a direct hit when it landed. I pulled a beam saber and launched off for the third, which responded by leveling it's 90mm machine gun, and firing at me. I let a few shots bounce off one of my GN full shields as I zig-zaged through the fire. As soon as I got close it tossed the machine gun and drew it's heat hawk, then leaped at me. I responded by dropping down some, dodging under it's swing. I countered by striking it dead center with my beam saber, cutting clean through it, and shooting passed while the Zaku exploded behind me.

A trio of simultaneous explosions announced that my cousin took out his own targets. "Ha! Three with one shot!" He cried triumphantly.

"I wish I could have seen that one." I responded excitedly. "But I did just recreate the famous scene from the original Mobile Suit Gundam cutting clean through a Zaku."

"That's pretty cool." My cousin responded with a bit of a laugh.

We regrouped in the center of the city waiting for the next wave, and with in moments I spotted a trio of MS-09 Doms headed our direction, lined up for a "Jet Stream Attack." I took careful aim with the GN sniper rifle and pierced all three with a single shot, in unison they all keeled over and exploded.

"Nice shot." My cousin observed.

I chuckled at him. "I learn from the best."

At that moment the other trio of Doms popped out from three different directions. At the exact same moment I popped off a snap shot from my sniper rifle, my cousin did the same with his beam rifle and two of the three exploded. The last Dom thought better of the situation and fled. We spent the next several minutes trying to hunt the elusive AI controlled Dom down, cornering it several times, but it managed to evaded us through use of it's scattering beam gun and continued to run.

"Good god! Who programed the survival instinct on that dang Dom!?" I complained loudly, causing my cousin to laugh.

For several more minutes we chased it, I resorted to my GN beam pistols and managed to score a couple of grazing hits on the machine's upper torso and skirt. My cousin then managed to wing one of it's lower legs several seconds later, with his beam rifle, slowing it down some. Finally we caught it in the open near the river and I shot foreword pulling a beam saber and stabbing it directly in the cockpit. The Dom dropped lifelessly to the ground, but didn't explode, apparently I had missed it's power plant, still it was done for.

"Well that was fun." Ichiro commented chuckling.

I shook my head and sighed. "Who'd expect an AI unit to run like that? Those hover jets give those things far too much evasive ability, if they decide to run. It was a pretty entertaining chase though."

"There should be another two waves, we should see the next any second." My cousin informed me.

I nodded back to him. "Hopefully none of them try to run this time."

We both scanned the area looking for any sign of enemy movement, the artificial wind blew causing the trees nearby to sway. It was far too quiet, and I began to get suspicious, I was contemplating taking to the air for a better vantage point when a caution sign flashed in front of me. I sent the command and Dynames obeyed leaping backwards, I continued across the river and landed near the tree line. My cousin wasn't so lucky, he attempted to dodge, but a bright green beam punched through his Powered Dahgi Iris and it exploded.

"What the hell!?" He shouted in surprise.

"Hah! Easy pickings!" I heard a new voice say smugly, making me want to put my fist in the owner's face.

Suddenly the water in the river exploded upwards as a Z'Gok-E burst from the water. It was mostly standard except for obviously improved thrusters, and a navy blue paint job. "I got this one!" A fourth voice shouted.

Not having any of that, I took a quick shot with a GN beam pistol which hit the Z'Gok-E dead center. The doomed amphibious unit buckled backwards, fell back into the river with a sizable splash, then exploded causing an even bigger splash. "Damnit, what's the idea, barging in on my training session!?"

"Ohhh this one's feisty!" The first of the two new voices said.

The second wailed mournfully. "My precious Z'Gok-E Custom!"

"I'll avenge you!" The first voice cried in sympathetic fervor.

At that moment another green beam shot from deep within the city, leaving me with only a fraction of a second to react, but it was enough for me to dodge. I couldn't completely dodge in time and the beam took the right GN shield unit off Dynames, which clattered to the ground heavily. In response I scrolled my weapons and sent 8 of the GN missiles from Dynames' knees in a scatter pattern into the city around the area the beam came from. The missiles all detonated within fractions of a second of each other, filling the air in the area with smoke that glittered with GN particles. Several seconds later several buildings collapsed filling the air with thick ashen dust of crushed concrete and glass. I used the confusion that caused to retreat in to the forest and watched the area for the mystery attacker.

After waiting for several seconds I saw a figure burst from the cloud of smoke and debris. I pulled my sniper rifle up and activated the sniper optics, then finally got a good look at enemy unit. It was a heavily customized GM III, sporting a huge backpack unit with extra thrusters, augmented thrusters on the legs, the head was modified sporting it's own sniper optics. It's features showing off it had what looked like a pair of Excalibur anti-ship swords and a completely unique looking folding beam sniper rifle. It's paint job was stunning gold with black accents. All in all a very well made custom as far as my eyes could tell.

"Okay girlie where did you go?" The voice, apparently of the fighter with the gold GM III, said. "When I beat you I'm gonna make you be my girlfriend!"

"Like hell you will!" I shouted firing my GN sniper rifle at him, which was a little off and struck the machine in the left leg. Luckily though the left leg blew up, unbalancing the thrust of the unit, throwing it off off it's flight path and the GM III flailed in mid air. "Got you!" I shouted as I pressed the trigger a second time, from my cover I managed to punch the shot long ways through from the lower torso and out the mid back of the GM III. The unit crackled midair, slammed into a building, then exploded, causing the building to collapse.

"BATTLE ENDED." The computer announced and the particles of the field dispersed leaving over a dozen heavily damaged Gunpla models scattered about. My only slightly damaged Dynames was still on one knee, sniper rifle poised, and it's sniper optics exposed. On one side of the field was a tall scrawny young man with brown eyes and chocolate blond hair, he wore what looked like Hideki's high school uniform. Across the field from him was a short husky young man in the same uniform, his hair was golden blond on top and black below that, his dark brown eyes held a devastated look.

"Aw man I'm never gonna get a girlfriend at this rate!" The heavy set one said. "And look at my poor GM III Sniper Custom..."

"What the... What!?" I snapped at him. "I'm a guy! Not to mention you're way to young for me. Besides I'd never date someone who so rudely barges in on someone else's training match, especially a newbie's." I looked at my cousin with an irritated expression. "Do you know who these clowns are?"

Ichiro sighed heavily. "Yeah they're classmates of Hideki's, known for cutting class so they can go Gunpla Battle." He shook his head with a disapproving look. "The skinny one is Furutani, Akira, his boss over there is Okano, Shou. They're decent battlers, but they like picking on newbies."

I snorted. "Well it looks like they targeted the wrong newbie today." I glanced down at my cousin's Gunpla, it had exploded poorly and torn it self apart fairly well. "Sorry about your Powered Dahgi Iris." I apologized meekly.

My cousin shrugged. "It's successor is just about ready anyways, besides I've got plenty of spare parts to repair it." He glanced over at my unit. "I'm really much more sorry that your Dynames took that hit."

I smiled back at Ichiro. "It's fine I was expecting a lot worse, and I have another two still packed at home anyways. Looks easy enough to fix besides the point, it was only a hit on the polycap luckily enough."

"You know I'm not picky, if you'd still be willing to go on a date with me..." Shou stated shyly.

I glared at him. "No!" I then turned my gaze on his friend then back at Shou himself. "You two need to stop picking on newbies, it's bullying. Also stop cutting class, where do you expect to end up in life with no education?" The both hung their heads in shame but said nothing. "Seriously, the way you two seem to be acting is... It's childish, cowardly, and totally unmanly."

"Pffftttt!" Ichiro blurted trying to stifle a laugh. "What would you know about being manly?"

"Shut up!" I shouted picking up one of the Zaku II FZ-types from the table and threw it at my cousin, who caught it and began laughing. I glared at him for a moment. "Idiot..."

I was surprised that the two high schoolers suddenly gathered their own Gunpla, bowed before me and apologized. Then scurried off saying something about school. I couldn't help but give a bit of a smile, I glanced over at Kenta who beamed at me.

"Damn those kids have been at their game for months... You sure seemed to have made an impression on them Natsume-kun." Kenta said still beaming.

I gave a toss of my head and huffed. "Well I hope so. Ignoring your studies so you can go around bullying people isn't anyway to get ahead in the world." I slid my damaged Dynames and GP Base back in to their proper carrier, at which point my stomach decided to speak up with a hungry protest. In turn I blushed and put my right hand on my abdomen, then glanced at my watch which read half past noon.

"You too, huh?" Ichiro asked with a bit of a smile. "Maybe we should head home and get some lunch."

I shook my head at his suggestion. "Actually I'm in the mood for some ramen, we could try that ramen-ya, the one we passed just a couple of doors down." I suggested back then flashed a smile at my cousin. "My treat."

Ichiro perked up instantly and nodded vigorously, grinning like a complete idiot. "Funny thing, I've never actually tried that stand..." He commented.

I lead my cousin to the battle room door chuckling at him, then turned and waved at the shop's owner. "See you in a little while Kenta-san, we'll be back I still need to buy some kits... I have a custom of my own in mind." The older man just nodded and smiled.

We strolled quietly to the ramen-ya, it was the kind with a vending machine for the meal tickets, so I fed the machine letting my cousin make his choice first. He picked a Shio ramen with chashu, negi, kamaboko, and Butter. I ordered a meal ticket for Miso ramen with corn, nori, and kamaboko. Once inside the man tending the ramen-ya quickly prepared our orders and aside from me and my cousin, were a couple of salary men from somewhere.

Like the salary men we ate relatively quietly, even after they left, but my cousin glanced at me with a curious expression. "So what's this custom you're thinking about?" He asked quietly, as if afraid to disturb the peace.

I slurped the noodles I'd already put into my mouth and smiled at my cousin. "Actually I'm thinking of several, but just in general terms at the moment. I probably won't have a definite idea of what they're going to be until they're coming close to completion."

Ichiro just smiled at me, nodded, then went back to eating, a cue which I followed. The only other conversation we had during the rest of the meal was how good the ramen was. Once we finished we thanked the owner of the stand and wandered back out with our sights set on "Kenta's Bad-Ass Hobby."

As we re-entered the store the jovial owner greeted us again, this time he was restocking a shelf near the front of the Gunpla displays. I glanced around for second then nodded to my self and walked the opposite direction my cousin had expected getting a bewildered question half mumbled from him. "The... you going?"

I smacked my forehead and pointed at the carts I was headed to. "I'm probably gonna buy a lot of kits, and I don't want to try to balance them all while shopping."

The confusion on Ichiro's face cleared and he nodded. "Ah, I get it."

"You might want to grab one too, because anything you want, go for it, it's my treat." I informed my cousin.

He shook his head defiantly. "No way I could impinge upon you for that."

"Sure you can, you took your valuable time to give me basic Gunpla Battle training, and I can easily afford it." I responded putting my hands on my hips.

"Oh fine." My cousin stated in mock defeat, making me laugh at him.

Over the next hour or so we milled about in the isles of Gunpla, my cousin following me, at first giving me unsure glances every time he picked up a kit. After a bout ten minutes of the unsure glances I snapped at him. "For the sake of my sanity, just pick what you like! Christ!" He was visibly shaken by the outburst, but collected him self, smiled, nodded, and let out a relieved sigh. I snorted at him turning away. "Still an idiot."

After we made our pickings through the isles, we approached the front counter with heavily laden carts. I could've sworn that Kenta's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw all the kits. "What's all this?" He nearly demanded in disbelief.

"Our purchases for today... I'm not sure about Ichiro-kun, but these should keep me occupied for week, or maybe two." I responded cheerfully.

Kenta-san gave me a very suspicious look. "Are you serious?"

Ichiro chuckled. "He's very serious, and apparently Natsume-chan is intent upon spoiling me and himself today."

The older gentleman still looked rather unconvinced. "Are you sure you can afford this?"

"Well if he can't cover it in cash I took a peak at his wallet and he's got both local and foreign issued American Express, Visa, and Master Cards. Though I doubt we have enough to clean his cash out." My cousin explained with a grin and I gave him a glare, he gave me an innocent look. "Speaking of which how did you get the domestic cards already?" Ichiro asked the question with genuine curiosity.

"I've had them since I turned 18, both of each are tied to the same account, so when ever I renewed a card I got both at the same time." I explained. "I even have local debit cards that I've had accounts with since then... Because most of the money me and my parents have is held all over the place, mostly in swiss accounts, so I keep active accounts both here and at home." I flashed Kenta-san a smile. "If you prefer cash and I fall short I could take a stroll to the convinence store at the end of the alley and use their ATM..."

Suddenly Kenta grinned directly at Ichiro. "So this is your rich American cousin."

"Yep." I confirmed.

We then set about transferring our intended purchases to the counter, where our gracious host began scanning the kits and separating them. Several minutes and a fist full of 10,000 yen notes later, the transaction was complete. Kenta-san beamed at me. "Big spender. Tell you what. Anytime you need a Battle Field, it's on the house, drinks too."

I blushed and shook my head. "You don't have to do that Kenta-san, I'm happy to support local business."

"Well I won't take no for an answer on the offer for free use of the Battle Fields." The older man stated with a laugh. "You drop a wad like that at my shop and you're practically family."

I laughed back at the man. "I'll take you up on that offer." I shook my head. "Don't expect every every visit to be as much of a spree as this one... But I suspect I'll be a regular customer, seeing as I still need to perfect my Gunpla Battle skills, so I'll probably be buying a steady stream of replacement parts."

Kenta-san nodded still chuckling. "I understand, just try not to strain my inventory too hard. It takes a few weeks to restock a kit if I totally run out."

I clicked my heels together and saluted. "Yes, sir! Understood, sir!"

The older man laughed. "Kid I like you, so you better come back as often as you can."

"Sure thing!" I replied, then glanced at the collection of large paper bags with handles attached to them. I then looked at my cousin who seemed to have spaced out. "Oi, Ichiro-kun..." I said sweetly. "Guess what your job is."

Ichiro snapped back to reality and looked at me, then at the 8 bags, then groaned. "Seriously?"

I nodded smiling. "I treat you to lunch, I pay for your kits, and we have another stop on the way home for things I will share with you... So yeah, you get to carry the bags home."

A laugh from behind me alerted me to the impending addition to my sentiment. "That's right!" Kenta-san laughed. "It's the proper way to show gratitude after all the money your cousin spent on you."

Ichiro groaned again. "I know, I know... No need to lay a guilt trip you two. Jeez..."

We bid Kenta-san a proper adieu, merrily exited the shop, less merrily in the case of my cousin, and began to trek back towards home side by side.

"Hey, uh..." My cousin suddenly piped up about half way back to his house. "What's this other stop we're going to make?"

I smiled at my cousin. "It's just up ahead, you'll see. Ah, here it is." I stated coming to a stop in front of a decent sized store. This particular shop being a sakaya (liquor store) made my cousin blink a few times, then grin broadly. "See, I'm not some cruel task master, now am I?"

"You are officially my favorite family member; extended, immediate, and otherwise." My cousin said as we walked into the store.

I gave him an odd look. "Why is that?"

He snorted with a bit of irritation. "Even my parents make me pay for any alcohol I consume. For liquor it's like 1000 yen a shot, half that for two glasses of nihonshu, and just over face value on beers... Pretty spendy since I only make about 140,000 yen a month."

I shook my head as I lamented his situation. "How cruel, treating your own son like a common bar patron..."

We didn't spend much time in the store as I quickly selected a couple bottles of sake, four six packs of beer, and a couple of bottles of expensive scotch from behind the counter. I made sure to show my passport, gaijin card, and both drivers licenses, just to quell the disbelief of the lady tending the counter. With another handful of the large yen notes spent, we made our exit with the new goods.

Ichiro gave me a suspicious look, but I grinned and decided to alleviate his fear. "Don't worry I got this one. You've got enough to carry." I said carrying the plain brown box of alcoholic goodness. "Just remember, moderation... Also next time we go out remind me to go to the bank."

My cousin laughed and nodded. "Sure thing." He gave me a quizzical look. "When did you get the Japanese drivers license?"

"Years ago, but renewed it last year when I visited." I responded simply.

The rest of the walk back to the home of my extended family was quiet, except for the clinking of bottles, rustling of paper bags, and the clicking sound my heels made on the cement. When we arrived and stepped in we both announced our arrival with a, "we're home!" As we set aside our goods and removed our shoes in the genkan.

My aunt came to investigate, she was shocked at the sheer number of Gundam model kits, then she snorted at the box. "I see you decided to get liquor..."

I looked at my aunt and shrugged. "Well it's not like I could ship my own supply from home, that's against the law, you know. Several in fact, lots of international ones probably. Plus how you treat your son on the subject is shameful, just shameful."

She shook her head smiling at me, then blinked and frowned at me. "There were two deliveries for you while you were out Natsume-Chan. One looked like an appliance, the delivery person installed what ever it is already. The other was from a nearby convenience store."

I winced. "Sorry I forgot to warn you that. My pre-arrival order of snacks and soft drinks. The appliance is a mini-fridge, I hope that's okay..."

My aunt laughed at me. "Well I suppose, but why?"

I put my hands on my hips as I stood proudly. "Because I'm too lazy to walk down to the kitchen every time I want a cold drink!"

"Sounds about right." My aunt observed, before we all broke out laughing.

When the laughter stopped my expression turned more serious. "Speaking of which, since I brought this undue load on the electrical system... I'll pay the bill for that utility."

My aunt folded her arms giving me a stern look. "You really don't have to."

I shrugged. "I insist contributing something to the house hold."

My aunt smiled and rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, if you insist."

"Good, now if you'll excuse us we should attend to this mass of purchases I made." I stated.

My aunt turned to walk back to the kitchen. "Sure thing, but please don't spoil my Ichiro-chan too much. By the way, I'm making nikujaga for dinner, so I hope you appreciate all the hard work I've been putting in."

"Yes ma'am!" I responded energetically as I lifted my box.

"My favorite!" My cousin responded even more energetically.

We made our way upstairs to a chorus of pleased giggles from my aunt and then retreated into my room. A box on my desk contained a variety soft drinks and non-perishable snacks. The soft drinks, a bottle of sake, and the beer were then stowed in my mini-fridge. While I was busy with that my cousin separated our model kits. Soon after he bid me a curt goodbye and left with his own items.

I grabbed a variety of kits, most from Gundam 00's first and second season, movie, and some other variants. I also glanced at the various other kits and grabbed several others, as ideas boiled to the surface in my mind. I figured I may have issues utilizing all the power of a GN Drive based units, so I set my sights on a pair of more traditionally propelled units. Though some might think working on multiple units at the same time would cause issues, for me it was a matter of keeping my mind clear of excess ideas. In more simple terms, having my goals set would prevent secondary ideas from bothering me, at least compared to trying to focus on a single unit at a time.

After about an hour Ichiro walked into my room with a white painted metal lap tray and sat him self on my floor. We didn't say much of anything to each other, but sat in a pleasant quiet, the sound of finishing paper scraping down nubs, plastic pieces being cut from runners. During our work, from downstairs, we heard the door open and close several times.

Sooner than either of us would have liked dinner came. Dinner was fairly energetic affair, as both Michiko and Hideki had school Gunpla torunaments for the lead up to the world tournament qualifiers. Along with that, Uncle Daisuke had been promoted at his work. Then the dinner table fell under a trance when Ichiro regaled them with blow by blow of my training session.

Hideki snorted. "Finally someone pulled a dark horse on the slackers... No wonder they came back to school... Also why Shou didn't rely on his favorite unit today, during the tournament."

Michiko giggled excitedly. "If Natsume-chan can do it, then I bet I can too. Next time we meet Shou-kin, Akira-kun... Your butts are mine!"

We all laughed at the youngest member of the family at the table, mostly due to her burst of, admittedly adorable, intensity. "Michiko-chan seems like a pretty feirce Gunpla Fighter." I observed.

"She's pretty energetic on the subject, but her bark is worse than her bite." Hideki observed. "Still she's not bad and gets better every time she plays."

Michiko stuck her tongue out at her high school age brother, then pouted. "Not like Natsume-chan." She lamented. "Rich, pretty, talented... Natsume-chan has everything."

I gave her a serious look. "I have my flaws too, you know. I have no physical stamina, I'm lazy, I lack focus, I'm borderline anti-social, plus I'm neurotic, with things like anxiety, and insomnia..."

"You forgot to mention that you're also about the biggest deviant in the family and sacrifice your comfort to conform to a flawed idea of normality." My uncle stated with a half sympathetic smile.

I glared at my uncle embarrassed as much infuriated. "Who asked you!?" I seethed for a moment then gave him a searching stare. "Also who told you that I sacrifice my comfort to be normal?"

"Your mother." My uncle responded blandly.

I whined in a significantly higher pitch than intended. "Damn woman can't keep a secret!"

My aunt and uncle both flashed me a grin, followed by all three of my cousins joining in. They loudly informed me, in overlapping voices, that I didn't need to hide anything from them. Supportive chatter flowed around the table, touching enough I nearly cried and embarrassing enough that I must have made an impressive shade of red. At least judging by their concerned looks, followed by the laughter.

Ichiro cleared his throat softly. "You know Natsume-chan is building his first customs already."

My uncle smiled at me suddenly. "We have a hobby room with all the tools you could possibly ever need, it's the one at the back of the house on the right side, on the ground floor. You're free to use it."

I nodded thoughtfully then smiled thankfully. "I have most everything I personally need, except for tools to do metal reinforcement. Which I know for a fact I'm going to need, Thanks in advance Daisuke-ojisan."

After dinner completed I returned to my room with my cousin in tow, upon arrival I glanced at his lap tray, noticing his Dahgi Iris was back in prime condition. "That was pretty quick, considering the damage." I looked at the partially complete unit on the tray along with his new unit, a striking RGM-122 Javelin customization. It's shot lancers replaced with variable speed beam rifles, it sported extra thrusters, along with the original ones, all of the thrusters were now square. It had a heat dispersal system taken from the Gundam F91. It sported down sized reinforced beam shields on both arms and a four spoked variant of a Gundam's command antenna. At it's feet laid an incomplete customized zanbuster and a virtually complete shot lancer with beam guns, instead of machine cannons.

As I studied it, I noticed it was still very incomplete, and looked a little mismatched due to the lack of a custom paint scheme. "That thing's going to be a monster when it's finished." I observed.

My older cousin smiled at me, then glanced at the collection of incomplete parts on my desk. "Probably, but what ever you seem to be planning is looking to be on the just plain scary side already."

I shrugged sitting back at my desk and opening the nearby mini-fridge, I removed two beers and handed one to my cousin. "I've got four units in mind, at least in the short run. I'm going to experiment with different designs, so I can find what units I like best, and which I work best with."

My cousin popped the top of his can and took a drink. "Well I two thoughts on that matter now that you mention it." He told me studying me as if trying to look inside my mind. "First, wouldn't it be better to do one unit at a time, so you're not over extending your self, or producing inferior quality units? Also wouldn't you be best with the units you like best?"

As I listened to the thoughts he voiced, I popped my own beer and took a sip of my own, then I nodded at him. "I've always had issues on focusing on just one thing at a time, besides if I can't get all my ideas into production at the same time they'll bother me while I work. So I usually work on several kits at the same time anyways." I waited for Ichiro to nod before I continued. "Also what I end up liking best might not be what I'm best suited for... I noticed today that I enjoy sniping the most, but I'm not sure it's the skill set I'm best suited to. I noticed that I do well in melee during our training today, and short range shots." I shrugged. "Anyways I'm gonna get back to work."

Ichiro smiled at me and nodded simply apparently deciding to go back to work himself. We chatted about ideal situations and tactics as we continued to work and enjoy our draft beverages. A couple of hours passed like this and we ended up finishing off the six pack, building and chatting merrily. On the other hand my exhaustion was catching up with me and I yawned hugely, so my cousin excused himself to prepare for bed. But, being dense, I failed to take the hint and continued working.

It was almost eleven at night when suddenly Michiko popped her head into my room and puffed her cheeks at me. "Jeez, you're still working?" She shook her head disapprovingly at me. "You should bathe and get to bed Natsume-chan."

I glanced at my clock, then at my youngest cousin. "You're probably right..."

"I am right, and you know it." She stated with a giggle and skipped into my room. "You can work on your Gunpla more tomorrow." She stated in an authoritarian manner as if she were my older sister as she walked through my room. She then walked over to my dresser and began looking through my drawers.

I huffed at her, standing up. "Hey! Stay out of there."

She simply turned, stuck her tongue out, and continued to browse through my clothes... My intimate clothes I realized much in humiliation and dread. "Ohhh." She said happily pulling out a women's pink satin pajama set, then she giggled as she browsed the content of another drawer, pulling out pink satin women's undergarments. "So cute." She commented happily.

"Why must you torture me?" I begged of her blushing.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm not... It's a warm night and these," she held up the items she selected, "will be comfortably cool to wear. You're the one torturing your self with hang ups about what you like." She gave me an honestly concerned look. "Why do you do that?"

I sighed. "You know not everyone is all that open minded. I don't want people to react badly to how I can be." I put up my hands with my palms up. "Not vocally, I could care less about that, but some people can get violent."

She gave me a studying stare, then nodded. "Well people generally aren't like that in this Country. Besides that I know for a fact, especially after talking to my big brother, that everyone mistakes you for a teenage girl at first..." She smiled brightly at me. "If anyone does give you trouble, I'll protect you!"

I stared at the diminutive 13 year-old cousin then burst out laughing. "All right but I'm gonna hold you to that promise."

"Good!" She exclaimed happily, then strode up, handed me the neatly folded articles of clothing, and began to usher me towards the bathroom. "You should also stop binding your chest," she said emphatically, "it's must be uncomfortable and can't be good for you."

I glanced back at her shocked. "How did you-?"

She snorted at me. "Your mom can't keep a secret."

"Damn that woman." I said halfheartedly as I reached the bathroom, then looked back at my young cousin as I opened the door. "Shoo!" I told her and she giggled. "I'm sure as heck not letting you bathe me."

"Oh darn it..." She said with a sigh mocking disappointed and walked away.

I face palmed as she did so, thinking about how my entire family was going to be the death of me some day. I went into the bathroom's entry room and locked the door behind me. I placed my pajamas and intimates on the counter, then proceeded to undress and placed my day clothes aside. After unbinding my chest I reflected on how right my cousin was in her assessment of it's discomfort.

I spent a moment sorting my clothes into stacking baskets atop the changing room's washing machine, each of which were compact with different household names, and the items they're supposed to contain. Much to my chagrin one basket was labeled "Natsume's delicates" and I vowed silently to get back at my aunt somehow. I also noticed that a rack of my own toiletries had a spot on the counter, but thankfully not a cosmetics bag for me.

I went about the usual routine of rinse, soak, wash, and soak again that was the tradition of bathing in Japan. During my final soak in the hot bath water I heard a knock on the door. "Yes?" I responded loudly enough for the knocker to hear.

"Natsume-chan leave the bath water after you're done make sure to leave the bath water, I still haven't bathed yet." It was my uncle and I nodded to my self to his request.

"Alright!" I responded aloud.

"Thank you!" I heard back before hearing the sounds of foot steps walking away.

I finished my bath, dried, applied my moisturizing lotion, and dressed in the clothing Michiko had selected for me. I made sure my body wash, shampoo and conditioner bottles were dry before I replaced them in my toiletries rack. Glancing around the changing room a final time as I retied my hair with the ribbon I smiled at the feeling of being in a cozy and full household.

I tapped on the door-frame of my aunt and uncle's room and told my uncle that the washroom was officially free. I turned and walked toward my room when I heard a shrill shout that made me turn around. "NATSUME-CHAN!" I had no chance to react as Michiko ran up, took a flying leap, wrapped her arms around me and took me to the floor with a tackle hug.

I landed hard with a loud thud, the young girl atop me giggling happily. "So cute!" She squeeled and rubbed her cheek against mine. "Soft too!"

I laid on the floor, only able to respond one way. "Ouch..."

I had landed in front of the bathroom door and my uncle's head popped out, looking down at me. "Natsume-chan, are you alright?" He asked me in concerned tone.

"Yeah I'm alright..." I groaned. "I'd really thought I'd escaped glomp of doom this time."

"Never!" Michiko giggled. "I waited all day to do that." She finally let me go of me. "Goodnight!" She cheered and skipped happily to her bedroom.

I laid on the floor for a moment, then began laughing to my self, remembering how when she was little I used to be able to catch her. I stood up and walked to my bedroom still snickering under breath my quietly. My family is crazy, but it's a good thing I think, it keeps life interesting. I got to my room, opened the window and crawled into bed. I glanced at the incomplete Gunpla units on my desk and smiled. I knew my parents shipped me to Japan for a reason, I'd been so introverted and secluded at home, I was on the verge becoming hikikomori at home. Well at least that's what I figured and it explained the suddenness of my parents deciding to "retire."

I glanced at my clock again, seeing it was about midnight. I yawned thinking about the busy week ahead, then it dawned on me that in just a couple of months the qualifiers for the Gunpla Battle World Tournament were scheduled. As I began to fall asleep I wondered weather, or not I should enter.

**Author's Notes: Phew was that a long chapter! I probably won't write many more this long, although it's hard for me to forecast chapters I haven't written yet. I made this one so long so I had a good start, and I just couldn't contain my self. Regarding the * note: I'm a huge David Weber/Honor Harrington universe fan and as you can tell I adore the Sphinxian Treecats. This is probably the best recommendation for the man's stuff I can give without gushing to over the top levels. On a final note I'm not sure how satisfied with this I am... Still it's the better of the start ups I've done for this series, at least in my own opinion. Thanks for reading and please feel free to review.**


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